This is probably where gnomes would live.
Donoph wonders who has been setting Sultan Sam on fire. This morning he found the poor thing slightly melted, and did what he could to patch him up.
"You can't torture the gnomes!" River growls, trying to be firm.
Thalia stamps her foot. "I can if they're not answering my questions!"
"Gnomes don't talk!"
Thalia tilts her head, looking for a moment as though she'll hit River, or destroy something else within their vicinity. "Well they're going to have to learn."
Complaining about remodeling restrictions. It's sad to see Donoph reduced to so much free time.
"I keep thinking about my socks," Arjun says one day. "They're so red. It looks like I bled all over them. Like, I have a horrible wound."
Stella sits down with her son to help him focus on his homework.
River breathes a sigh of relief.
River brings Thalia to the museum, which contains many wondrous things.
And some things that are just silly.
Maybe these books contain the key to laying this plotline to rest once and for all.
Or those spirits.
(River sneezes.)
Or maybe life fruit is something harvested from meteors.
(River sneezes again.)
River brings Thalia upstairs, where there's a place set aside for kids to play and read.
River plays, while Thalia researches.
This is taking forever.
River wonders how she got herself into this mess.
Eventually they go home. Thalia is, for once, very quiet.
River wonders if she found something she didn't like.
"Tell me what's going on!" Arjun demands.
"Stop!" River fails to shield herself from the vicious blows. "I dunno what you're talking about!"
"I know there's something weird going on," Arjun complains.
River just stares at him.
This is getting too uncomfortable.
It's gone on too long.
Her parents have to be worried, River thinks. There is no way they're not. There is no way.
It occurs to River, to try and find Thalia's parents.
More parties.
The band has its first gig tonight, at Crypt Club, and they want to celebrate before and after.
"I am best dancer!" Donoph shouts.
Someone spends half the party reading a book.
And the other half failing at chess, because they challenged Stella.
One too many glasses of nectar, and DeAngelo thinks he can play with fire.
"Aoow. So unfair! I should be fireproof."
Kai Lai does not approve.
Stella doesn't need to be under the influence to make a fool of herself.
Luckily Penelope isn't really listening; her mind is on the upcoming performance at Crypt Club, and how fantastic she's going to be.
Donoph wonders if DeAngelo had a good idea.
DeAngelo looks away, already ashamed of the trend he's caused.
Stella & Kai dancing.
Dance is interrupted when she realizes what her brother is doing.
Meanwhile, her son is out playing with ghosts while Piroj thinks he's in bed asleep.
Woo!
"You are such a baby for worrying about this!" Penelope criticizes Kai, her brother. "De is as harmless as a fly."
"Well he's begging for money from a criminal." Kai glares. "Their family is trouble, and IN trouble. Fernando Inkbeard is playing a dangerous game, and I don't want you anywhere near it."
"WHAT game?"
Kai fidgets. "He's... he's... well, he's a criminal. Isn't that enough, Penny?"
"Don't call me Penny, and don't tell me how to live my life."
Stella doesn't know what to think about what she is overhearing.
Finally, it's time to play some music.
Well this rocks.
Shantell Rome-Darwin leaves Crypt Club's hot tub to check Scott out.
...?
=(
...She's looking at me. D=
Donoph shares some laughs with Blanca Libros-Rao. After debate club, she went on to become a cop.
She married her high school sweetheart only a few days ago. So she's actually Blanca Coastal, now.
('Bout time. None of them are young adults anymore.)
"Don't I look amazing with this ring, Donny?" she gushes.
"You practically glow," he agrees.
At that moment, Donoph Archer hears a terrifying noise.
He's never heard anything like it before.
He doesn't know how to describe it.
It starts from his right; a floorboard cracks open, then Penelope is thrown out of her seat.
Someone is firing. A real gun. Across the stage.
It's over in seconds. Amidst the screams and the running, no one actually catches sight of the shooter, who must have been hiding himself, or herself, in the fake stage window.
Knocked off the stage.
Looking kind of shocked about it.
Who turned out the lights? Did a fuse get shot?
These torches are still on.
"They missed me," DeAngelo murmurs. "That makes no sense... I..."
"D-Donny?" Stella stammers. "I-I think I've been shot..."
He took his sister to the hospital, and when she was patched up she yelled and shrieked to be taken home. She didn't even wait to be dressed properly; the dress she was wearing to the club was blood-soaked. Ruined.
The siblings leave the hospital in the firetruck. Donoph drives slowly, in silence.
It takes only a few days for Crypt Club to be up and running again, as if nothing happened.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Blanca says quietly. She sinks down onto the sofa beside Donoph. He called her here, to the scene of the crime, to discuss its investigation. The whole mess is something Blanca does not want to talk about. She'd like to erase the violence she's seen from her mind. But she can't, because she has a job to do. Because Donoph needs her to do that job. "We don't have any information we can share with you right now, and we may not for a while. We have our best investigator on it. But murder is a lot different from the stolen mouthwash cases he tends to deal with."
"What did I see, that night, Blanca?"
She sighs. "Gunfire. We don't know who manufactures these unusual weapons. This kind of criminal activity is almost unheard of. The cops and robbers routine is what we're used to, around here. It's almost like a game. Sometimes they win, and they make off with your TV. Sometimes we catch them, and the good-for-nothings spend some time in jail. But nobody hurts anybody."
"People are hurt now. People are dead."
"I know. And we won't give up pursuing justice."
"As I told you, I want to help."
"If you're serious about joining the force, you'll be working on lower priority cases for a long time before you're allowed to look at anything as serious as murder. We can't allow fresh recruits to run around questioning townsfolk and causing trouble. It takes a process to weed out the people who have no business being cops, and you're going to have to go through that process."
Donoph frowns deeply. "Then I'm going to go through it, Blanca. I'm not going to sit back, and do nothing."
He will make them pay for what they have done.
________________________________________
Etc.: I rolled law enforcement (super spy) as Donoph's new career, when architect became too glitchy.
Title is a Cake lyric.
RIP Scott and Penelope, and your band I didn't even name. :'(
